The life of a criminal defence lawyer is shrouded in mystery. Outsiders might wonder about how to deal with potentially dangerous clients; what happens behind the scenes when building a defence; and, that age-old moral dilemma, how a lawyer can defend someone they think is guilty. But what is life really like for those tasked with representing the shadowy underbelly of society? For over forty years, criminal defence solicitor Henry Milner has been the go-to lawyer for some of Britain's most notorious criminals - including Kenneth Noye and the Brink's-Mat robbers, Freddie Foreman, John 'Goldfinger' Palmer and the gang behind the Millennium Dome raid. Here, the lawyer referred to in the Sunday Times as 'The Mr Big of Criminal Briefs' offers a fascinating insight into life at the top of the profession, lifting the lid on the psychology of those who end up on the wrong side of the law - and those who defend them. By turns shocking and hilarious, this remarkable memoir takes us deep into the enigmatic criminal underworld, delivering a wry personal commentary on the most extraordinary aspects of a life spent amongst the accused.

A notorious loan shark is shot dead, in broad daylight, right outside the front doors of the Old Bailey. The killer is arrested at the scene and Adrian Stanford is lined up to take on the toughest defence case of his career. Can he steer his client past the no-nonsense Detective Chief Superintendent ‘Iron-Rod’ Stokes, hell-bent on achieving a murder conviction in his last case before retirement? That’s assuming he can keep his client alive in prison long enough for the trial to go ahead. Can his illustrious defence QC, Patrick ‘The Edge’ Gorman, swerve the case past the acerbic judge known to all as Mack the Knife, whose own resolve is being tested to the limit by an adulterous wife? And why is London underworld numero uno Big Jake Davenport showing such a keen interest in the proceedings? A wickedly eccentric cast of brilliantly drawn characters populate this daring debut from one of Britain’s top criminal defence lawyers. Dripping with sparkling dialogue and delicious wit, Murder at the Bailey is a masterly picaresque romp through the courtrooms, custody suites and London restaurants graced by the cognoscenti.

Is it possible in this post-socialist world, for equity and efficiency to be reconciled ? Or is a productive welfare state a contradication in terms ? This book addresses these questions in theory and in practice, using the Nordic countries as its case study. Social Democracy and Rational Choice will appeal to readers interested in comparative institutional and policy analysis, and in particular to those concerned with the future of the welfare state and the latest developments in the Nordic countries.

Is it possible, in this post-socialist world, for equity and efficiency to be reconciled? Or is a productive welfare state a contradiction in terms? This work addresses these questions in theory and in practice - the practice being that of social democracy in the Nordic countries. Milner presents an institutionalist analysis of social-democratic regimes which seek distributive justice as well as optimal economic performance, showing that the dual aims are not incompatible and can indeed be complementary. He develops a rational-choice-based framework to analyze how objectives are shaped by economic, political and cultural institutions. Milner argues that attempts to attain a combination of distributive justice and optimal economic performance are most commonly thwarted by inbuilt opportunities for individuals to free-ride, and he examines arrangements which can make such free-riding less attractive. The framework is applied in contrasting institutions in corporatist/social-democratic societies, and also in laissez-faire- orientated societies such as the United States. The book also surveys developments in the Nordic countries in the 1990s.